8.  The applicant, Mrs Ayşenur Zarakolu, was a Turkish national and lived in Istanbul. She was represented before the Court by Mr Özcan Kılıç, a lawyer practising in Istanbul.
9.  On 25 April 2002 the Court was informed of Mrs Zarakolu's death on 28 January 2002 and that Mr Ragıp Zarakolu, her widower, wanted the proceedings to continue and wished to participate in them, retaining the applicant's lawyer as his representative.
10.  For practical reasons, Mrs Zarakolu will continue to be called “the applicant”, although Mr Zarakolu is now to be regarded as such (see Dalban v. Romania [GC], no. 28114/95, § 1, ECHR 1999-VI and see also Ahmet Sadık v. Greece, judgment of 15 November 1996, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1996-V, p. 1641, § 3).
11.  The applicant was the owner of a publishing company, Belge Uluslararası Yayıncılık, in Istanbul.
12.  In June 1996 the applicant's company published a book entitled Özgürlüğün Bedeli (The Price of Freedom), written by Lissy Schmidt, a German journalist. The book, which was translated from German to Turkish, is a chronological compilation of articles and interviews involving the socio-economic and political evolution of an autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq and criticism of Turkey's policy on the Kurdish issue.
13.  On 15 January 1997 the principal public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court lodged an application with the court requesting an order for the seizure of the book.
14.  On the same day the 6th Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court, sitting with a single civilian judge, ordered the seizure of the book in accordance with Article 28 of the Constitution and Article 86 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court considered that the chapter between pages 111 and 120 of the book contained separatist propaganda against the integrity of the State.
15.  On 29 January 1997 the applicant filed an objection with the Istanbul State Security Court against its order of 15 January 1997. She pleaded that the book, including the article impugned by the principal public prosecutor, did not contain any element of separatist propaganda. She further stated that the court's order lacked reasons and merely repeated the request of the Public Prosecutor. She maintained that in publishing the book she aimed at enjoying her right to express ideas and impart information to the public. She also contended that the court's order for the seizure of the book contravened Articles 6, 9 and 10 of the Convention. She finally asked the court to set aside the seizure order of 15 January 1997.
16.  On 3 February 1997 the 1st Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court, sitting with three full members, including a military member, unanimously dismissed the applicant's objection and upheld the order for the seizure of the book.
17.  In the meantime, on 28 April 1997 the principal public prosecutor at the Istanbul State Security Court filed an indictment with the court charging the applicant and two others who had translated the book, with disseminating separatist propaganda, an offence under Article 8 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (Law No. 3713). The public prosecutor alleged that the applicant published a book, translated from German to Turkish by Süheyla Kaya and Zeynep Herkmen, in which references were made, between the pages 111-119, 163-165 and 167-182, to a certain part of Turkish territory as “Kurdistan”. He requested that the court punish the applicant in accordance with Article 8 § 3 of Law no. 3713, and that the incriminated book be confiscated in accordance with Article 36 of the Turkish Criminal Code.
18.  In the proceedings before the 6th Chamber of the Istanbul State Security Court the applicant denied the charges against her. She pleaded that the incriminated book did not contain any separatist propaganda against the integrity of the State. She asserted that the book was the analysis of certain events in the eyes of a journalist.
19.  On 13 October 1997 the Istanbul State Security Court postponed the criminal proceedings against the applicant pursuant to Article 1 § 3 of Law no. 4304 of 14 July 1997. The court also decided, under Article 2 of the same Law, that the criminal proceedings would be set aside provided that the applicant did not intentionally commit any offence in her capacity as an editor within three years of this decision.
20.  The applicant appealed against the Istanbul State Security Court's decision of 13 October 1997.
21.  On 13 April 1999 the 9th Chamber of the Court of Cassation dismissed the appeal.